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Forum:52: Walking Away
The group returned to a sombre Copia City on a rainy evening, as word from the attack in Terceira had reached the city ahead of the group. Speculation ran rampant in the streets, and a few newspapers were publishing stories that Lordinians were thought to be responsible and that this would be a prelude to another war. The party, though they made a point of trying to communicate the more accurate version of the events to interested speakers, would retire to the Wandering Mermaid once more in anticipation of a request from Ritter, who asked that they provide support for his claims as to the events in Terceira when he eventually confronted [Edith Harper with them. The group was requested for an interview with Military Intelligence a few days later, and were interviewed alongside Ritter by Harper and Lexington Jr. Harper first brought up the fact that, regardless of what happens in the future, her offer to repay the party for helping her daughter would stand. This unsettled Ritter somewhat, and Lin noted that this was part of Harper's intent. Ritter presented the group's findings from Terceira, and Harper claimed that Agent Waters had been killed prior to the outbreak of violence in an explosion at a training site in Telet. Some of her remains were recovered but not a complete body, and she had apparently signed an order to not resuscitate or resurrect her body, and as such was cremated and disposed of in a secure location given her position with Military Intelligence could lead to compromising information being leaked if she was revived or contacted against her will. The group, highly suspicious of the news, looked through her file for more information, but were then confronted with new information pertaining to the victims in Terceira, among them Lt. Gaines and Capt. Grant, Ritter's former comrades. They had apparently been recruited specifically by Cmdr. Douglas to sabotage the investigation into the smuggling ring and cover up evidence as to their involvement. However, there remained the question of how Lordinian clients of the smugglers were getting access to the weapons, and Harper openly theorized that a point of contact would be necessary, an individual both familiar to Lordinians and intimate enough with the Librennian military officers involved in the conspiracy to establish contact from outside the military proper. She then offered Ritter a chance to confess in exchange for a better deal than life in military prison. The party stridently objected to the sudden forceful turn of this investigation, but Ritter instead counter-accused Harper of being responsible for the murder of his friends, masters, and family from his time in Lordin. Harper claimed that Ritter was referring to someone else, but then suddenly relented and said that if there was no other information the party wanted to provide concerning the investigation, that they would be free to go. The party, and Lexington, mentioned three facts primarily: That the nameless woman was known in Terceira and may have had access to Military Intelligence's information, that she was recognizable to Yahtuh as both the nameless girl from the past and Marie Waters in the present, and Lexington added that Harper neglected to mention that his partner had died in his absence. She responded in turn that the leak from Intelligence would be subjected to investigation, that the nameless woman's ability to shapeshift may be at play, and that Lexington, being on undercover assignment, could not know about Waters' death lest it lead to his being compromised. As they left Intelligence, the party told Lexington of what they had learned, but they saw that the young agent seemed to be at a crossroads. He could either believe the party and do his part to learn more about what had brought his partner to Terceira, thus potentially exposing wrongdoing of his partner or, worse, Librem, or trust the evidence that Harper provided which exonerated his friend so that he could pursue the investigation against a nameless assailant, while potentially letting a larger conspiracy slip by. He himself seemed uncertain of how to proceed, but the party trusted his instinct as it was apparent that he would do the right thing even in troubling circumstances. The group stayed in Librem for a few more days and heard some surprising news through the grapevine: As more facts about the arms smuggling and attack in Terceira were brought to light, Edith Harper announced her resignation from Military Intelligence. She reportedly claimed that her failure in preventing the attack was indicative of a need for a new generation of Intelligence officers to take the reins of the organization from her, as her own methods proved inadequate in the face of these new kinds of evil. The group then met up with Lexington some days later for a more casual conversation and to exchange stories from the party's adventures, when suddenly he was called to action and brought the party with him to an unfortunate situation: Ritter, despite the group's pleading to the contrary, was now publicly holding Edith Harper at gunpoint, and demanding that she reveal her supposed crimes to those in attendance, even if it meant he died in the process. The party received a flash of insight from the butterfly of chaos held around their necks, saying that it could force the truth out of Harper and end the charade. However, Lin alone received a contrary message from somewhere else, saying that many people would die if Pandemonium acted now on their behalf. The group thus opted to let the supposedly dangerous truth lie for now, and Harper proceeded to explain to Ritter that, short of lying to him and confirming all his worst suspicions of her, that he would not be satisfied with her response because he has poisoned himself into thinking that she must be responsible for his woes, and would no longer accept evidence to the contrary. In her words, he has forgotten how to walk away and that this impulse would destroy him, and that he would have a better chance at getting the release he wants by putting his gun to his own head. Ritter, swayed by her words and those of the party before him, relented and surrendered his weapon. Harper, for her part, told her security detail of Intelligence personnel to let him go without further incident, as he was never a threat since his pistol was unloaded. Ritter sat down and decided to tell his story, that he was once a retainer for a noble family in Lordin known as House Vogel, and that his master had remarried a younger Librennian woman with one hand who eventually killed him and his two children before escaping back to Librem. He was convinced that this was Edith Harper, but said that her voice sounded strange to him suddenly and he realized that maybe with the passage of time he had forgotten some important detail of the person he was chasing. Harper, for her part, left Copia City on a passenger liner to parts unknown, and told Lin before leaving that she too would someday have to stop fighting and that she must listen to her instinct when she does so, as the consequences of failing to do so would be disastrous. The rewards for the party are as follows: +5,000 EXP per person for bringing a close to the saga of Terceira...for now. +10,000 gold per person (after accounting for Lordly Raven's fees) were mysteriously deposited into the group's bank account. Consequently, a new milestone has been reached as the Lordly Raven has now accrued a total paycheque of just over 40,000 gold. Now that he has been paid handsomely by the party, and has a new wielder in Artyom, he has revised his total range of upgrades in order to provide more use for the party. Consequently, Artyom may choose three of the following six upgrades to the Lordly Raven: 1) Sniper Reborn: User automatically gains the Vital Strike feat. The Lordly Raven now has a scope attachment which can be fitted on top of its length for Medium-size users, or underneath for smaller users. 2) Hunter Reborn: The wielder gets +10 Enhancement bonus on Stealth checks and can make a Stealth check to hide while being observed directly without cover. The Lordly Raven's frame profile shrinks and his furniture colouration seems to blend in with his environment. 3) Guide Reborn: The Lordly Raven provides a partial Favored Terrain bonus, per the Ranger class skill, to the entire party. However, the bonus is only +1, and it is fixed to one type of terrain upon selection, though it can be changed with a payment of 1000 gold, and this fee will contribute to his next level. The Lordly Raven now has a small liquid compass inside its stock to gauge direction. 4) Marksman Reborn: The wielder gains the feats Precise Shot and Improved Precise Shot. In addition to the scope, a set of angled rail sights along the side of the Lordly Raven provide an alternative means of placing trickier shots. 5) Mercenary Reborn: The Lordly Raven becomes a +3 Distance Heavy Crossbow and can cast Gravity Bow on himself autonomously, with his wielder's character level as caster level. However, he charges 100 gold per casting of the spell, though this will contribute to his fees for gaining levels. An ornate patterned etching appears along the stock and the rail of the Lordly Raven, depicting the battles the Lordly Raven saw in his past life. 6) Elementalist Reborn: Once per day, the Lordly Raven can fire a bolt that will deal 10 extra points of elemental energy damage of a type selected by the wielder. The Lordly Raven feels strangely alive to the touch and his internal mechanisms seem to glow with otherworldly energy. For the next adventure: You have a few options of where to go: 1) Follow up on a job offer from Peter Gillis to act as a "liberator of slaves" in Lordin, at the request of Theodoric Vosser, a famous merchant. 2) Vacation in Hafuujou, a party favourite, to get Yahtuh some power armour and try your hand at the Hafuujou Combat Simulator (HCS) per the Lordly Raven's invitation. 3) Investigate the strange being within Lin, who claims to be Zhuque the Firebird. 4) Follow up with Dan Harper on the nature of Pandemonium and Genbu's torments. 5) Go back to Jiang to learn more about the progress of the revolution, and meet up with your friend Yellow who still writes every once in a while to make small talk. 6) None of the above. Surprise me with a new turn to the story.